FRA report looks at legal capacity barriers to fundamental rights enjoyment for people with disabilities

FRA has published a report underlining how legal incapacity can prevent people with disabilities from exercising choice and control over their lives, despite the promise of current international standards.

The report analyses current international and European legal standards and compares EU Member States’ laws in the area of legal capacity for people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health problems. It reveals how in many Member States legal capacity can be restricted or removed under certain conditions. But it also shows that ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is driving rapid and significant change. Evidence from FRA fieldwork contained in the report highlights the obstacles many people with disabilities face in securing equal enjoyment of their fundamental rights by drawing on the experiences of interviewees who have had their legal capacity removed or restricted.